Judging is a critical component of any pattern competition and a skill we all need to work to deliver. Most who have flown in a pattern competition have seen variations in scores by judges, and may even have gone as far as commenting on 'hanging judges' (those who give consistently low scores) or suggested there may be 'favouritism' in others scores.

This may or may not be the case. If it is, it is disappointing and we all need to do our best to ensure it doesn't happen. When you are flying you should be be confident that the judges are awake, concentrating, consistent and unbiased in waht they do. Sounds good? Well if it does that is exactly the mindset you must have when you take your seat in the judges chair.

In addition to the mindset, you need to take the time to build your skills on what to look for. The material here aims to help you on that journey.

These are reproduced courtesy of the APA. Thankyou to the APA team for their efforts in sourcing this material and making it available. If you fly pattern in Australia and are not an APA member you should support their efforts by joining - you can do so through the membership section of the APA website.